Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, South Africa’s Defence Minister, on Monday said that the attacks against foreigners including Nigerians in South Africa were planned by criminals and that government can’t prevent it.

Mapisa-Nqakula, who said this in an interview with eNCA, a local television channel, described South Africa as an angry nation and insisted that the government can’t prevent the ongoing violence.

She said, “The reality is that we have an angry nation. What’s happening can never be prevented by any government.

“People are saying some heads of state decided not to attend the World Economic Forum; we should be talking about why this whole thing is coinciding with that.

“People are saying it is xenophobic attacks but it is not the first time, we have had them in the past.

“We have criminals that have read the situation and are aware that we have challenges right now.

“We have talked on the issues of high rate of unemployment, of some foreign nationals who are not conducting themselves in an appropriate manner as we would expect, those breaking the bylaws of the country, and you now have criminal elements who have decided that we are going to use all of those things to find reasons to attack people.

“It is unfortunate and should not happen. The reality is that we need to have a serious dialogue about what is happening and we must take responsibility. The reality is that we are an angry nation and we must talk about it.”